Want to talk to strangers at the mall? Well, you better be talking about the mall itself or get a permit ... at least that's what the owners of the Westfield Galleria at Roseville, California, want:

They even had rules to enforce that behavior, but a state appellate court has starkly declared that the mall's attempt to regulate conversation is unconstitutional. [...]

The specific rule at issue prohibits a person in the center's common areas from "approaching patrons with whom he or she was not previously acquainted for the purpose of communicating with them on a topic unrelated to the business interests" of the mall or its tenants.

The court struck down the shopping mall rule:

The appellate court's opinion dealt one way or another with possible conversations that the rules would prohibit:

Weather is a no-no, unless one is intuitive enough to observe how it may be affecting the size of the crowd at the mall. Teenagers who use the common areas for social gatherings, not necessarily limited to contemporaries they already know, are out of luck. Should someone stop you and ask directions to Sutter-Roseville Medical Center, you would be well advised to blow them off, lest your humanitarian instincts lead you astray.

California craps on the Constitution again, what a surprise! That mall is privately owned. Even if they want to enforce a "no-talking-at-all" rule, they have the right to do that, since it's private property! I'm not against evangelism, but that pastor was wrong. He was asked to leave private property and refused, so he deserved to be arrested. If people don't like the mall's rules, they should just not go. If enough people don't like the rules, the mall will either have to close or change the rules.

This is flat out idiotic. Even if they were trying to stop "zealous pastors and other activists from bothering patrons" as Wes said, couldn't they have just kicked those who were bothering people out? Trying to ban ALL non-mall related conversation is unnecessary and just plain ridiculous.